CQC finds Northamptonshire care home residents were at risk of scalding

A nursing home in Northamptonshire has been referred to the Health & Safety Executive after an inspection found it was running scalding hot water into its baths without staff realising.

Foxhill Manor Nursing Home, in West Haddon, was visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), whose inspectors found staff had no idea how hot the bathroom water was.

Inspectors saw signs in one bathroom that indicated the temperatures were 37 to 41 degrees Celsius but a proper check revealed it was in fact between 53 and 56 degrees Celsius.

The inspection report also said it took staff two-and-a-half hours to find a thermometer, which suggested the water temperatures were not often checked.

The report said: “We checked the hot water temperatures dispensed from the ground floor bath tap and the second floor shower; in both cases the hot water temperatures put people at risk of scalding.”

The hot water temperature was flagged up under the standard in the CQC report relating to protecting its residents from harm.

Foxhill failed to meet three of the five sub-categories in this section, so did not meet the overall standard.